Vacuum breakers are required in many types of domestic and commercial plumbing fixtures especially fixtures such as pull-outs sprays for kitchen sinks and hand held showers for bathroom use in which the spray or shower head could draw contaminated water into the clean water supply in the event of a pressure drop in the clean water supply.
Previous vacuum breakers have not been suitable for use in hand held showers because of their bulky size, the large high pressure drop experienced upon normal flow through the vacuum breaker and the need for the vacuum breaker to be mounted in a fixed position.
This invention is directed to an in-line vacuum breaker for a hand held shower or pull-out spray which is compact, fits in a hose leading to the shower or spray, and can be easily installed and removed by a user.
An object of this invention is an in-line vacuum breaker which has a low pressure drop during normal water flow therethrough.
Another object of this invention is an in-line vacuum breaker which uses conventional check valves to control water flow and to control venting to relieve any vacuum which may be created.
Yet another object of this invention is a compact, in-line vacuum breaker which can be installed in a water supply hose to a pull-out spray or a hand held shower.
Still another object of this invention is an in-line vacuum breaker in which the vent check valve is located out of the path of water flow through the vacuum breaker housing.
Other objects of the invention will be found in the following specification, claims, and drawings.